Monday, February 28, 2011

“He’s not welcome here. He’s in the back-pocket of Koch Industries, he’s in the back-pocket of greed and money.”

So says Doug from Madison, a protester I spoke with on the Capitol square earlier this week, who sees Gov. Scott Walker as leading our state in the wrong direction.

“I’ve actually been protesting Scott Walker since January 3rd,” Doug adds. “I’d have protested him longer if he had gotten here earlier. I’ve just missed a day or two of protesting [these past two weeks] because I got sick.”

We’ve heard from a variety of people -- celebrities, state and local officials, political pundits -- on what these protests mean and the impact of Scott Walker’s budget repair bill on our state’s public employees. But if anything, these protests aren’t about those people. They’re about the common people, individuals who have come in droves of tens of thousands in order to protest a blatantly destructive bill.

I wanted to get their perspective, to show the world that these ordinary Wisconsin citizens really do care about the issues attached to this bill. People like Pat from Madison. “There are many things stuck into this bill that are reprehensible,” she said. “It’s not just the collective bargaining. The potential cuts to Medicaid, the busting of the home-care workers union -- come on! And of course, selling off our power plants to, probably the Koch brothers now that it’s all come out. I mean, there’s just no acceptable parts to that bill.”

Others agreed. “This is a union state. We like unions,” said Lonnie, another protester from Madison. “The ability to negotiate is here, you know?”

Lonnie also felt that the leadership exhibited by Scott Walker was lacking. “This governor is from another planet,” he said. “He should just step aside and let the state get on with its business. He’s sold it out. He should just, in a peaceful manner, step aside. But if we have to go through the whole thing, strikes, a recall -- so be it.”

And that’s the sentiment felt by most of the protesters. A sense of betrayal was present even before the prank phone call heard ’round the world -- but after a blogger pretending to be a Koch brother infiltrated the phone lines of Gov. Walker for more than twenty minutes, with Walker spilling the beans about having considered placing “troublemakers” in the crowds of the protesters, it seemed that Walker no longer cared about the people of this state -- his only concern seemed to be that of the Koch brothers or other wealthy donors.

Some were frazzled by the apparent Republican planning behind this bill. Holly from Wisconsin Rapids was hesitant to express her attitudes, perhaps fearful that her words would go against the common-sense attitude of most Wisconsin citizens. “I feel like there’s a conspiracy -- and I hate to use that word because everyone thinks you’re a nut,” she said. “But I feel like my governor is plotting with other [Republican state governors] to overthrow its citizens...I fear people who are hard to communicate with.”

The feeling of anger over Scott Walker’s refusal to compromise was felt by almost everyone I spoke to. People like Larry and Nancy, a middle-aged couple from Mequon (a mixed liberal-conservative area), who were convinced that Walker was a stubborn governor. “He’s obviously not a quality leader,” Larry said. “He doesn’t know how to listen to the people -- if he knew how to listen to the people he’d obviously be out here, he wouldn’t be saying this doesn’t bother him. I don’t know if he’d notice if his arm fell off him, even.”

Nancy added, “When did compromise become a dirty word? If we want to get along in families, we learn how to compromise. If we want to get along as states, we learn how to compromise. If we want to get along as countries, we learn how to compromise. You can’t go through life without compromise.”

Many protesters were convinced that there was no point in asking for compromise, that Scott Walker would never listen to anyone who wasn’t a billionaire. Kleo, a teacher who lives in Fitchburg, was especially adamant about that point.

“I don’t think you can reason with the man,” she said. “The only people who can get in to talk to him are the Koch brothers. If a man he thinks is a Koch brother can get twenty minutes with him, why can’t he compromise and talk to union leaders.”

Donna, also from Fitchburg, felt that Walker would go further than he already has. “Who is he to take rights away? I mean, the next thing is the Bill of Rights he’ll try to take away.”

Kleo went on. “Scott Walker is a union-buster. He has been governor of this state for one and a half months, and he is succeeding at totally wrecking it. He has no interest in compromise, he is -- he is NOT the governor of the Wisconsin people. He is the governor of the Republican Party and big money. And that’s all he is.”

---

What did I get from all of this? The people who are driving these protests -- these Wisconsin people, from all corners of the state -- are fed up. They cannot understand why their governor is so stubborn, has led his state in this direction. After all, he never campaigned on ending collective bargaining rights. He never campaigned on privatizing state-run facilities with no-bid contracts. And he certainly led many Wisconsinites to believe he’d work with, not against, the people’s interests at heart.

But actions speak louder than words -- and the footsteps and chanting of hundreds of thousands of protesters are proof positive of the changing tide of Wisconsin politics. The power of the people, the collective voices of those in solidarity with one another, cannot be silenced. That is what drove most of the people I spoke with -- the belief that what they were doing truly mattered, if not short-term than long-term.

“I think that people are going to feel strongly about it and they’re not going to let it happen,” Pat told me. Lonnie concurred: “I’ve been waiting my entire life for this!”

Those sentiments match the overall goal of the people of Wisconsin -- a spirit of optimism. Even in the face of adversity, where many concede this bill’s defeat is an uphill battle, the optimism of the power that the people hold brought hundreds of thousands to protest. If Scott Walker succeeds in anything, regardless of this bill’s outcome, it’s in revitalizing and galvanizing the progressive movement in our country, though in Wisconsin especially.

I recently came across a set of protesters who were downtown. They weren’t like the majority that were there, though I have seen a few like them before. They looked like the other protesters, were middle-aged, and had even carried signs.

These protesters, however, were in support of Scott Walker.

This is perfectly fine, of course: democracy requires us to be accepting of any individual that chooses to voice out their concerns for their government, chooses to disseminate their views in order to influence the debate in some way.

Still, these protesters bothered me a great deal. What was it about them that bothered me so much?

It was their sign. It read: “When we miss work, we get fired.”

It’s a perfectly fine statement to make. And it’s true for a lot of people, myself included: if I skip work to protest, unless I get permission to take a personal day, I get written up and possibly fired.

However, what these conservative protesters failed to recognize was that for much of the 20th century many union workers DID miss work in order to fight for the reforms (of their time, at least) that we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, weekends, safe workplace conditions, the right to even form a union...these were struggles that weren’t won easily. These were battles that had many casualties, both figurative and literal.

The struggle between Gov. Scott Walker and public service workers (and the private sector workers who have since joined them in their fight) is one that is noble, just, and fair. And just as it’s fair for those workers to stand up against Gov. Walker and his Republican allies, it’s also fair for supporters of Walker to voice their dissatisfaction with the protesters.

But it would do a lot of good for people to understand the sacrifices that have been made, the struggles that have been waged, in order to get where we are today.

State Democrats charged Walker with violating ethical standards, campaigning on Milwaukee County taxpayers’ dollars. Walker maintained that his trip was only for what he said it was -- a statewide ride on a Harley motorcycle that, again, just happened to occur after he announced his run for office.

It wasn’t the only ethical standard broken by Scott Walker during his tenure as Milwaukee County Executive. But it does paint a picture of just how Walker works: bending the rules just so in order to make them work for him, justifying his lack of integrity through substandard excuses.

“I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers,” Wray said. “Our department works hard dialoging with those who are exercising their First Amendment rights, from both sides of the issue, to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure they can demonstrate safely. I am concerned that anyone would try to undermine these relationships.”

Within the same phone call, Walker again provided an example of his lack in ethical standards. When the prankster posing as the billionaire expressed that he would have to “fly [Walker] out to Cali,” Walker seemed ready and willing to do so. Accepting gifts from political donors and lobbyists is a big no-no for elected officials in our state, a fact Scott Walker knows.

It’s clear that our governor doesn’t just cross the line -- he crosses it repeatedly, with little to no regard for his actions. As a final example, consider his misuse of state troopers to “find” the 14 state senators who left Wisconsin in order to prevent quorum on the bill. It’s no secret that these senators are in Illinois, and haven’t been home in a week. Still, to create a photo opportunity for various conservative outlets (read: FOX News), Walker sent the state troopers to these senators’ homes in an attempt to make them look something like criminals.

There is no measure too low for our governor to sink to. Scott Walker fails his “ethics exam” for being governor -- barely even two months into his term. This guy needs to shape up or ship out, and it’s pretty clear he has no intention of changing his ways.

Wisconsin deserves better, deserves a more responsible executive. Lena Taylor summed it up best when she spoke to Ed Schultz earlier this week -- where was Walker when his father, a pastor, preached about integrity: in the back pews, or in the basement?

Lost in the madness that’s going on in Madison over the past dozen days or so was the Obama’s decision this week to halt all legal defenses of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

The act ensured that only straight marriages, not same-sex marriages, would be valid at the federal level. States that conducted same-sex marriages weren’t allowed to bestow federal rights to these couples.

Obama’s decision to halt the defense of DOMA signals a drastic change for our nation, which now, according to recent polling, supports giving same-sex couples some form of rights, whether they are marriages or strong civil unions. By ending the enforcement of DOMA, couples in states that allow same-sex marriage can now apply for federal benefits as well.

It’s the right move to make, one that hopefully will someday lead to an all-out legalization of same-sex marriage at the federal level.

Now, we’ve just got to get Obama to come to Madison to support workers’ rights. He did, after all, make a promise to do so in 2007 when he was candidate Obama.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

It is perhaps the most damning proof yet to surface about the contempt that Gov. Walker has for the people of Wisconsin.

The Buffalo Beast, a liberal blog site, recently prank-called the governor’s office claiming to be David Koch, an uber-right wing billionaire donor who helps fund Americans for Prosperity and various other conservative campaigns -- including Scott Walker’s in 2010.

“What [Senate Republicans] are doing today is bringing up all sorts of other non-fiscal items, many of which are things members in the Democratic side care about. And each day we’re going to ratchet it up a bit,” Walker said. One of those issues is the proposed Voter ID bill.

Walker also discussed with the impersonator a plan to withhold direct deposit checks for the 14 senators. “The Senate majority leader had a great plan he told me about this morning,” said Walker. “[The Senate] is going to pass a rule that says if you don’t show up for two consecutive days on a session...the Senate chief clerk can actually have your payroll stopped.”

The governor talked briefly about possibly tricking Democrats to return to the state, using a procedural maneuver to create a quorum in the Senate.

“I would be willing to sit down and talk to [the Democratic Assembly leader],” he said, “but only if all 14 [Democratic senators] will come back and sit down in the state Assembly -- legally, we believe, once they’ve gone into session for that day, and they take a recess, the 19 Senate Republicans could then go into action and they’d have quorum.”

“Bring a baseball bat,” the Koch impersonator says.

“I have one with my name on it,” Walker responds.

Gov. Walker even compared his stand against public service employees to that of Reagan firing PATCO employees in the 1980s.

“That was the first crack in the Berlin Wall,” Walker asserts, “because the Communists then knew Reagan wasn’t a pushover.”

Gov. Walker’s spokesman said that the prank call proves that the governor says the same things in public that he does in private. Apparently I missed something -- I don’t recall Walker ever saying in public he considered placing troublemakers in the midst of the protesters surrounding the Capitol...

Koch impersonator: What we were thinking about the crowd was planting some troublemakers.Walker: We thought about that... (Emphasis added)

Did the governor just admit to having considered planting “troublemakers” in the crowd in order to instigate the protesters?

---

I don’t condone the use of manipulation, of lying to anyone in order to create a news story. What the Buffalo Beast website did in order to get information out of Scott Walker was deplorable journalism, unethical, and frankly wrong.

With that said, the information is out: we know what Walker said and where his priorities lie. He doesn’t care about getting money back into the hands of taxpayers. He only cares about getting more money into the hands of the wealthy, of the super-rich who will back his campaign.

When “David Koch” beckons, Walker answers the call, ready to sell out the people of his state in order to appease his political puppet master. But when Senate Democrats try to contact the governor -- the very 14 that he’s trying to convince to come back to Wisconsin -- he seems to be too busy to care.

This bill was never about fixing a budget mess. It was never about ensuring that public service employees pay their fair share. It was simply about making Wisconsin a union-free zone, a place where workers would have no influence over their payroll, benefits, or workplace conditions. It was about appeasement of one set of political donors and punishment of Walker’s political foes.

Everyone in Wisconsin should know that THIS is their governor, THIS is the man who represents our state. And every Wisconsin citizen should be infuriated by his actions, ashamed of this dark chapter in our state’s history.

---

I also want to tip everyone off to a new hotline to call if you do want to voice your concerns to Gov. Walker. Blogging Blue has set up a voice mail where you can voice your grievances to the governor. Call 1-888-882-7921 to get what you need to off your chest.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

More than two-thirds of Wisconsin citizens agree with the positions that public service employees are taking in regards to the labor protests taking place at the Capitol.

A new poll released by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research indicates that the protest movement in downtown Madison (and elsewhere in the state) is vastly supported by the people of Wisconsin. At the same time, Scott Walker’s standing with the average voter has diminished greatly, with a majority of the state disapproving of his job performance as governor.

67 percent of Wisconsin citizens support the goals of public service employees while only 43 percent support Walker’s goals. More than half of respondents (53 percent) disagreed with Walker in general on the matter.

As far as specific policy goes, 52 percent agreed with the need to preserve collective bargaining rights, while only 42 percent favored Gov. Walker’s plans to strip public service employees of their rights.

What’s more, Wisconsinites across all political spectrums (including more than half of self-proclaimed Republicans) felt that if public service employees agreed to financial concessions in Walker’s bill that the governor should agree to keep bargaining rights intact. This past weekend, state workers agreed to such a proposal; but Walker said no, implying that this bill is more about political scores to settle rather than just the budget.

Walker’s stubbornness has landed him a sour standing with the people of Wisconsin -- a majority (51 percent) disapprove of the governor’s job performance and a near-majority (49 percent) view him unfavorably (compared to only 39 percent that give him positive reviews).

Conversely, perhaps due to the events of the past ten days, public service employees and unions in general received positive remarks, seen as favorable by 62 percent and 53 percent of the people, respectively.

This poll comes in the wake of another poll performed at the national level by Rasmussen Reports that attempts to show nationwide more support for Walker than with workers. However, closer examination of this poll suggests that it was heavily skewed to favor Walker through the questions asked. Two of the set-up questions were worded in a way to give the respondent the impression that the workers were protesting solely for financial reasons, not in defense of their rights.

Still, as Daily Kos points out, even with the improper wording of the poll (as well as Rasmussen traditionally favoring Republican politicians in general), Walker couldn’t even garner half of the country’s support to back his position. Additionally, a USA Today poll points towards national opposition rather than support for Walker's bill.

There’s no doubt that Walker and his Republican allies will ignore these statewide polling results, opting to side with their corporatist financial backers rather than the people of Wisconsin. But it’s interesting to see just how overwhelming the support for public service employees is in our state -- it legitimizes the labor movement and gives it hope for the future.

I hosted a radio program tonight online...nothing to sneeze at, and as my first radio show, was probably a little...well, who knows. Anyway, if you listened to the show, leave a comment here, let me know what you think.

Monday, February 21, 2011

If you're still not convinced that Scott Walker is solely after the utter destruction of unions in our state, and through that end the destruction of the middle class, consider his latest refusal to compromise with public service employees as the strongest piece of evidence yet.

When union leaders told Gov. Walker that they would agree to paying more towards pension, health and other benefits so long as their bargaining rights remained intact, Walker wouldn't budge, insisting that his proposal was non-negotiable.

In reality, collective bargaining costs the state nothing. Public service employees who were agreeing to tighten their belts (even more than they have already) sought to create a compromising situation that would benefit all parties involved. It was a win-win solution for both Walker and the unions.

Walker remained obstinate, an adjective I usually reserve for toddlers.

The budget being his primary rationale behind this obscene bill, it's a bit puzzling to see Walker remain so defiant when it comes to non-budgetary issues. In essence, Walker is stalling his own bill through his refusal to grant public service employees their rights to bargain collectively -- a compromise that will cost nothing to the taxpayers, nor increase a penny to the budget deficit.

Throughout Walker's stubbornness the support for the unions has grown. Police and firefighters, two unions that supported Walker in his gubernatorial campaign last fall, have come out backing the protesters in Madison. National and even international support has grown as well -- Ian's Pizza on State Street reports donations of pizza to give to demonstrators coming from all across the country, as well as from ten countries globally (including newly-liberated Egypt).

Even the Green Bay Packers have thrown their support behind public service employees, with cornerback Charles Woodson being the latest to voice opposition to Walker's assault on workers. "These hard working people are under an unprecedented attack to take away their basic rights to have a voice and collectively bargain at work,” said Woodson.

None of this matters to walker, of course -- not even the influence of the Super Bowl champions could change our governor's attitude towards unions and the workers whom they represent. His sole goal is to silence the voices of workers under the guise of fixing a budget deficit, a deficit that was augmented by Walker's tax giveaways to corporate entities. His true priorities lie with making Wisconsin a corporate tax haven, forging our state into becoming a great place for big business but horrible for working families.

This is not the leadership that Wisconsin voters chose last fall. Both Democratic and Republican administrations for the past half-century have respected the rights of public service employees to collectively bargain. That Walker wants to dismantle those rights so early in his tenure as governor has got a lot of people (including about 70,000 that showed up at the Capitol on Saturday) wondering: what's next on Scott Walker's agenda? Who will he sell out next in order to appease his corporate donors?

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Writers over at RedState.com, a popular conservative blog, are trying to derail the movement taking place in Madison this past week by making unions seem like bullies.

In one specific blog post, writer Ben Howe claims that WEAC published the home addresses of state legislators in order to have supporters go to their homes and harass them. The PDF file on WEAC's page is in spreadsheet form and lists the work phone numbers of state legislators, their email address, and yes their home addresses as well.

However, this isn't information that isn't already attainable. Go to the Wisconsin State Senate's home page and you'll find that the information is already there. What RedState.com is essentially saying is that WEAC is a terrible organization...for providing people with already attainable knowledge.

What's more, the WEAC page that RedState cites never once encourages anyone to go to legislators' homes. The link that WEAC provides doesn't even mention that their home addresses are included within -- it simply states that the link contains "Phone numbers, email addresses of state senators." How RedState thinks that WEAC is trying to incite violence through this information -- again, which is attainable to anyone with a 56K internet connection or greater -- is beyond me.

Then there's this little ditty by Moe Lane, who claims that unions are starting to cave because they offered Walker a compromise of agreeing to wage cuts in order to preserve their bargaining rights. Writes Lane:

What this means, of course, is that the unions are sliding towards the edge of the cliff on this one, and they know it. The counter-protests must be quietly putting Wisconsin Democrats in a panic: they can tell their own minions that it’s not a reflection of grassroots outrage (unlike their own artificial outrage), but they themselves know better.

Clearly, Moe Lane doesn't know a thing about what's going on in Madison. 70,000 protesters -- a vast majority of them pro-union (by my count, about 90 percent of them) -- doesn't mean the Democrats are "in a panic." This protest was never about the money, though the deal given to public employees is a terrible one. This is about workers' rights, negotiation rights, that were stripped in one week's time, after 50 years of respectful negotiations between Democratic AND Republican administrations.

What we've got to remember within this whole protest is that it's collective bargaining rights, not the changes in benefits, that matters most. I saw one sign that stated that very fact -- "I'd rather get laid off than lose my rights" it said. Not everyone would agree to those sentiments, but Gov. Walker is ignoring other options available to him, as well as the fact that he created this fiscal mess in the first place.

Ignore right-wing talking points about this protest, especially from those outside of the state. We all know what's going on here -- Scott Walker is driving our state into dire times.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The movement to recall Scott Walker is a bit premature -- Wisconsin law requires that any officeholder facing a recall threat has to be in office for at least one year before the process can formally begin.

But while recall supporters must wait another year before they can go after Walker, eight Republican state senators are eligible for a recall. The question is, do they deserve it? Would an effort to recall these eight senators be justified?

Certainly there are some who are, frankly, a danger to our government. Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) comes to mind -- the man is further right than many Tea Party supporters. I had the "honor" of witnessing the senator in action once, during a hearing on requiring Wisconsin public schools to teach comprehensive classes on human sexuality. Grothman's questioning of hearing participants bordered on harassment as he asked each person which organization they represented in an effort to discredit and intimidate everyday Wisconsin citizens concerned with providing students a sound education.

The paranoid antics of Glenn Grothman aside, it's really going to be up to each individual district to determine if their senator deserves a recall challenge. Many of our state GOP senators represent districts with union representation, which means the eight in question are not safe by any means, at least when it comes to the political maneuver.

A concerted effort to recall these eight senators -- whether it's to influence their decision-making or to simply remove them -- should be given great consideration, especially in the wake of this week's events. The Republicans have made it clear that they intend to drastically change our state's valued institutions -- not just workers' rights but also voters' rights as well -- and there's no telling how far they plan to go after this.

Having a check on Governor Walker's powers would be beneficial to the people of Wisconsin, seeing as how he has ignored the people's wishes on this issue as well as many others. Ousting three Republican state senators achieve that goal is a move we should all get behind. It may be the only way we can save our state in the long-run.

What Walker is essentially saying is that, rather than come up with a package that will be agreeable, at least to some extent, between both government leaders and the union that represents government workers (from teachers to snow plow drivers to prison guards), he will instead come up with his own package without any input from the very workers he employs as governor of this state.

Simply put, it's Dictator Walker's decision, and ONLY his decision, which matters. State workers can only depend upon his benevolence to have a decent wage, pension or health care plan.

Walker isn't considering any of these ideas, nor any other like them. It's simply cut, cut, cut. Such an attitude does little to change our state's financial crisis, and does NOTHING to fix the people's personal economic difficulties. If fixing the economy AND the budget are goals of the Walker administration, why does Walker think that worsening economic conditions for public service employees will help families across the state?

They’re the people in our state who do the grunt work, who serve the people not for the glamour, not for the pay, but for the belief that what they do benefits the greater public good. They’re the people we think of when we need help, when we cannot fend for ourselves, when our loved ones need more assistance than we’re able to shell out on our own.

To reward them for their hard work, for the sacrifices they make every day working a mostly thankless job, Scott Walker has determined that their contributions to their pensions and health care benefits should go up, to nearly one-fifth of their total wages. Because they chose such noble professions, our governor has decided that it’s their backs that the burden of balancing the budget ought to be placed upon.

Is this the leader the state elected? There have been no negotiations made, no agreements passed, between state workers and the government. Striking a blow to five decades of precedent, this governor has decided that it’s his rule that matters, and if public service employees don’t like it, that’s tough. His behavior is barely shy of dictatorial.

...the protests of this week give us something to believe in again. In Madison, I'm reminded that the people haven't lost hope, haven't given up on the ideal that the American dream is still alive, that an employed man or woman can provide for their family and ensure security in their lives through their employment. Win or lose this battle, fellow Wisconsinites (and Americans elsewhere), our voices cannot be silenced so long as we stand united.

Ours is a noble, just cause -- and one which must not end this week, nor this month, nor this year. It's a cause that's worth defending for generations to come -- the cause of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Our state’s Democrats are doing the right thing. They understand that a vote is imminent; they realize that their fight is probably going to be lost. But they also know that within some fights, principles must be preserved, values of how we govern and how we treat one another ought to be respected.

Scott Walker trampled on those values when he stripped public employees of their collective bargaining rights, a move that violated more than fifty years of precedent. The move by Democrats to prevent this precedent from being established, to prevent the rights of workers to be denied, is just.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

There are some who are going to criticize state Senate Democrats who left the state in order to prevent quorum for Scott Walker’s dictatorial union-busting bill. They will call it obstructionism, anti-democratic, cowardly, and so forth.

It’d do them well to reject those sentiments. What the Democrats are doing is noble, just, and a form of civil disobedience. Their actions are preventing the regressive tactics of Gov. Walker and his Republican allies, who are attempting to do away with half a century of collective bargaining rights for public service employees.

By staging this escape, they will allow more time for citizen-protesters – now numbering in the tens of thousands daily – to make their point to wavering Republicans. Rather than ramming it down their throats, Gov. Scott Walker will have to wait for his bill to get real consideration in the Senate, granting legislators more time to ponder the bill, in full, rather than the week’s time that Walker wanted to rush it through.

For those still unconvinced that the move by Democrats to prevent quorum is fair, tell me this: how was it fair when Republicans, on the national stage, prevented the health care bill on a myriad of occasions? How was it fair when they filibustered nearly every single bill that Obama and Democrats supported? How is it fair that a single Republican Senator can anonymously place a hold on a presidential appointment for weeks or months at a time?

There is a difference however between the obstruction of Republicans at the national level and the move made today by state Senate Democrats: Republicans obstruct in the name of corporate greed, while our state Democrats are preventing quorum in the name of preserving workers’ rights. One is justified; the other, rightfully frowned upon.

Our state’s Democrats are doing the right thing. They understand that a vote is imminent; they realize that their fight is probably going to be lost. But they also know that within some fights, principles must be preserved, values of how we govern and how we treat one another ought to be respected.

Scott Walker trampled on those values when he stripped public employees of their collective bargaining rights, a move that violated more than fifty years of precedent. The move by Democrats to prevent this precedent from being established, to prevent the rights of workers to be denied, is just.

The protests in Madison this week are nothing short of miraculous, a beautiful display of democracy in action. These aren't just union workers in the rotunda of the Capitol building -- they're also the family members, friends and supporters of the nurses, teachers, social workers, prison guards, civil servants and other public service employees of this state. They are both public and private employees, fighting the dictatorial decree of our state's governor, Scott Walker.

I'm a prime example of this: I'm not a member of any union, am in fact a private sector worker. But I still support this movement -- I understand that what is being fought for in Madison this week transcends my personal story, affects those that make the state run. They don't work for the income (it's low) or the glamor (it's non-existent), but because they know the work they do is necessary to make Wisconsin a great state to live in. These workers are my neighbors, my friends, my family -- and to deny them my support would be incomprehensible to me.

What comes of this week is a reminder to the American people, to the privileged and the struggling, the rich and poor, conservative and liberal alike, that the power of every day Wisconsinites converging on our state's Capitol building, demanding a common political cause, cannot, and should not, be ignored, both locally and nationally.

I've been saying it for months, years: the American people are progressive at heart. More Americans support reforms to health care; more want taxes raised on the rich; more want gay and lesbian rights expanded; in short, more want an expansion of happiness for all.

One thought pops into my mind when I look at these crowds on my television screen as well as in person: the middle class is sick and tired of the b.s. that's been handed to them over the years. Trickle down economics don't work; it shouldn't take more income now to live the same lifestyle that most Americans enjoyed in the 1970s.

In other words, we're going backwards -- the middle class is shrinking, being left behind, forgotten by leaders like John Boehner, Paul Ryan, and Scott Walker (though the Democrats are hardly helping right now either). But if this week's demonstrations prove anything, it's that these people the workers of this state (both public and private) stand together, support the beliefs that made this nation a great super-power.

A full-time job should provide a family a decent living. A person who works hard should be able to retire at a decent age, to live their lives in retirement comfortably. To ensure they're able to work, employers ought to provide their employees and their families -- whether public or private -- a decent health care plan.

These are the ideals that our country used to support. But for the past 30 years they have been dismantled, stripped away and rescinded by conservatives under the auspices of improving the growth of the private sector. These deregulations were implemented from Reagan to present, and every day Americans have been suffering ever since.

But the protests of this week give us something to believe in again. In Madison, I'm reminded that the people haven't lost hope, haven't given up on the ideal that the American dream is still alive, that an employed man or woman can provide for their family and ensure security in their lives through their employment. Win or lose this battle, fellow Wisconsinites (and Americans elsewhere), our voices cannot be silenced so long as we stand united.

Ours is a noble, just cause -- and one which must not end this week, nor this month, nor this year. It's a cause that's worth defending for generations to come -- the cause of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Thousands of people came to the Capitol building today in Madison, Wisconsin, in protest of the removal of bargaining rights for public service employees across the state. The following are some pictures from today, taken from my phone (not the highest quality). More pics follow the jump.

The proposal by Gov. Scott Walker to remove the rights of public service employees is nothing short of disgraceful. It is, after all, the right of all workers to bargain collectively, even if that right hasn’t been realized yet in all sectors of employment.

Workers deserve to have a collective voice equal to that of their employers. When an employer decides that it’s time to lower wages or benefits, the workers have the right to tell them no, to say that we’ll stand together and fight this change in policy. Compromises are made through a series of measures – a general strike among them, if needed – in order to create a situation that is agreeable between the two parties.

Within this mess, Gov. Walker has decided to bypass that process altogether, to ignore the employees who work for state and local communities and to tell them that their union membership is obsolete. He is bypassing their rights as a collective body to compromise with the government on concessions that are acceptable, on tradeoffs that can be made, simply because he believes there’s no room for compromise.

Is this the leader the state elected? There have been no negotiations made, no agreements passed, between state workers and the government. Striking a blow to five decades of precedent, this governor has decided that it’s his rule that matters, and if public service employees don’t like it, that’s tough. His behavior is barely shy of dictatorial.

Passage of this proposal in such a short span of time would be despicable. Passage of it without input from the unions that represent these workers would also be appalling, a violation of the workers’ rights to have a say in their benefits packages, which directly affect the livelihood of those affected. Through bypassing the unions’ collective bargaining rights, a move that hasn’t been done in over half a century, Scott Walker tells state and local employees that they’re not worth it, not appreciated by the state, and aren’t valued by the government which employees them.

And that’s a sad, sad thing to hear from our chief executive. He truly has trampled upon the rights of thousands of workers across this wonderful state.

Monday, February 14, 2011

The following was originally posted at Dane101.com. The article, in its entirety, is there for your viewing pleasure.

When most people think of a public service employee, their thoughts probably turn to a government worker who is in a lavish office somewhere at the Capitol building.

The image in their head is indeed a myth: most government workers don’t get paid the huge sums of money that some mistakenly think they receive, work in various offices across the state, and have to pay into their pension just as most other private sector employees do. They too are struggling through the effects of the economic recession and have families to care for as well during these challenging times – the same conditions as most Wisconsinites are facing.

But even with the confused depiction of what a public service employee’s lifestyle may be, those that view them in a negative light forget that such employees aren’t just government workers. They’re also the nurses, specialists and other staff that work at our hospitals, teachers that guide and shape the minds of our young, guards that ensure stability at our prisons, and social workers that help the disadvantaged in our communities.

They’re the people in our state who do the grunt work, who serve the people not for the glamour, not for the pay, but for the belief that what they do benefits the greater public good. They’re the people we think of when we need help, when we cannot fend for ourselves, when our loved ones need more assistance than we’re able to shell out on our own.

To reward them for their hard work, for the sacrifices they make every day working a mostly thankless job, Scott Walker has determined that their contributions to their pensions and health care benefits should go up, to nearly one-fifth of their total wages. Because they chose such noble professions, our governor has decided that it’s their backs that the burden of balancing the budget ought to be placed upon.

Walker's defense is simple: it's this proposal, or cut more than 200,000 children from BadgerCare. But these aren't the only options available.

Making cuts to government alone isn't the answer. Sacrifices have to be made, but not as radical as Walker is trying to make us believe they must be.

Raising taxes on income for the wealthy a modest amount could help solve the problem. So might cutting or freezing the salaries of elected officials (including the governor's own, which ranks 19th in the country among executive branch salaries). A tiered sales tax, where extravagant charges would be taxed at a higher rate, would also benefit the state without hurting the poor and middle class of Wisconsin.

Walker isn't considering any of these ideas, nor any other like them. It's simply cut, cut, cut. Such an attitude does little to change our state's financial crisis, and does NOTHING to fix the people's personal economic difficulties. If fixing the economy AND the budget are goals of the Walker administration, why does Walker think that worsening economic conditions for public service employees will help families across the state?

Where does he get the idea that slashing pay and benefits for nurses, teachers, prison guards, even snow plow drivers, would benefit the state?

Where do the priorities of the Wisconsin GOP lie if they do indeed support Walker's vision for Wisconsin?

And how can he call this move "just" without giving the unions representing these people collective bargaining rights, rights that they have been granted for the past half-century?

The people of Wisconsin need to know: they're governor doesn't care. He simply doesn't care, especially about those who TRULY serve this state in meaningful ways. Those that perform these job functions do so knowing that their work isn't glamorous. They do it because they know it's important work to perform.

Will we allow our governor to spit in their faces, to deny them their basic rights?

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Scott Walker is nothing more than a bully. His move yesterday to bypass the collective bargaining process, to essentially tell state and local employees that there will be no negotiations regarding their contracts, pensions, health plans, and so forth, is nothing more than a direct assault upon unions, both within the public and private sectors.

What Walker is essentially saying is that, rather than come up with a package that will be agreeable, at least to some extent, between both government leaders and the union that represents government workers (from teachers to snow plow drivers to prison guards), he will instead come up with his own package without any input from the very workers he employs as governor of this state.

Simply put, it's Dictator Walker's decision, and ONLY his decision, which matters. State workers can only depend upon his benevolence to have a decent wage, pension or health care plan.

Unfortunately for state and local government employees, benevolence is the wrong descriptor for Walker's plan. Workers will now have to contribute 5.8 percent of their paycheck towards their pension plan, as well as 12 percent towards their health premium.

That amounts to nearly one-fifth of a state employee's income. The move, touts Walker, saves the state nearly $30 million.

If Walker was truly worried about the state's budget deficits (currently at $3.6 billion, which means this whole mess is hardly a dent in anything), he'd consider different ways of raising revenue in conjunction with gutting wasteful spending, not cutting the benefits of workers that communities across the state depend upon.

He'd also be wise not to threaten the use of the National Guard in order to implement these changes. Such a move is downright dirty, reminiscent of the union-busting days of past.

Scott Walker's refusal to negotiate the changes, to make his own decisions without any input from union leaders, is disgraceful. At a time when Wisconsin families need help more than ever, Scott Walker spits in the eyes of his own employees, making their personal budgets even tighter than before.

The message by Walker? Workers have no rights, cannot negotiate at all the conditions of their contracts. The message is clear: In Wisconsin, Dictator Walker has the final, and only, say.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Football isn't just a sport to me. It's a character-builder. It's understanding that hard work, determination, and dedication allow a team of men to achieve the impossible, to go the distance and win it all, for themselves as well as their fans.

The Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl this weekend symbolizes that sentiment. The lowest ranked team in the NFC playoffs, the underdogs throughout each game they played in the postseason, come out and win it all. There is no greater story in sports than this.

The impossible is possible. We should never settle, should never give up, should always chase that which is out of reach. They are the lessons that Lombardi taught his team nearly 50 years ago, the lessons that still hold true today:

"People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society."

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible. "

That is why so many Americans, and in particular so many Wisconsinites, love this game. It is the chase of a dream, of an impossible goal -- perfection -- that makes the sport, and our country, great. For the American dream is much like the game of football -- it is the constant pursuit of greatness for all, of achieving that which gives you purpose in life, that makes it all the more worth chasing.

The cynics that tell you that there is no purpose in football, no meaning behind the team sports, shouldn't be shunned; there are real problems that need to be dealt with, real societal problems that affect every day people, most of the fans of the sport included. But they don't understand fully what the sport symbolizes for millions of Americans: Hope; Aspiration; the pursuit of Happiness; and the pursuit of Perfection.

If everyone felt those things in the lives they led, if everyone fought with the tenacity that the Green Bay Packers displayed, both last night and 50 years ago, then society would be all the more better for it.

Chase the impossible; go for perfection; and let's move our country forward.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

I don't claim to be an expert on everything that's going on in Egypt right now, but what I do know is what's happening is nothing short of extraordinary.

The people took to the streets in Cairo today, demanding a new government through legitimate democratic elections. Current President Hosni Mubarak has ruled his nation for the past three decades, clamping down on dissent from all angles (ranging from critics that are both religious and secular).

His rule is no longer accepted by the people. They demand fair elections where they can choose for themselves their own leaders and representatives. They also demand democratic rights such as free speech and an open press.

With any revolutionary event, it's critical that democracy -- and with it, a preservation of rights -- wins out in the end. Many politicians and pundits from around the world are fearing a repeat of the 1979 takeover of Iran by Muslim fundamentalists, where the iron fist of the shah was simply replaced by veiled democracy controlled by the ayatollah.

But by all accounts thus far, this event isn't anything like the Iranian revolution. The main players behind the movement are both religious AND secular.

The fears of another fundamentalist takeover, then, are unfounded, or at the very least premature. These aren't fundamentalists who are taking to the streets of Cairo; they're a strong coalition of people who are demanding democratic rights, for both religious and secular people of Egypt. They may not agree on everything politically, but they do agree on the need for a new government, one that puts its faith in the people rather than an autocratic leader.

It's a promising trend that seems to be coming forth within the Middle East this year. Just last month, the people of Tunisia had a similar protest that changed the face of their nation as well; facing similar protests in his country, King Abdullah II in Jordan dismissed his government this week and plans to institute more democratic reforms in the coming months to placate dissidents.

As Americans, we ought to support the call to remove Mubarak from power, to put in his place a responsible government that is a true reflection of the people of Egypt, and to expand democratic rights throughout the entire Middle East. We may not always see eye-to-eye with the Egyptian government following its transition to democracy; but democracy in place of dictatorship is always preferable, especially in a region such as the Middle East.

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